| Description | The Parish of Twickenham was founded in 1883. The church was built in 1885 and consecrated on 23rd July 1887.
The Church of St James, Twickenham, is a Roman Catholic church at 61 Pope's Grove, Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is dedicated to St James the Apostle, to honour the man who paid for the church to be built, James de Lacey Towle. The church was opened in 1885 by Cardinal Henry Edward Manning and consecrated by the Cardinal in 1887. Prior to the opening of the church, the Mass was celebrated in a mass centre in Grosvenor Road in the centre of Twickenham.
The paintings in the church include a copy of a Raphael of the Madonna and child donated by Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff in about 1900, and a representation of St James 'Matamoros' (conqueror of the Moors) executed by Vicente de Arroyabe in 1995, and donated by a parishioner, Mrs Evelyn Dunning. In a side entrance on the west side of the church there is a painting of the church by Dutch born writer and artist, the late Hilda van Stockum.
Education
The Parish expanded due to the establishment of Catholic schools and later the attraction of Twickenham as a dormitory suburb with easy access to Central London, and to Heathrow and Gatwick Airports. St James's Primary School was opened in 1893 and St Catherine's Girls Independent School in 1914. St Richard Reynolds Catholic Community College provided a much needed Secondary School when it was opened in 2013 by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, and Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark.
St Mary's University is part of the parish, and the parish archives held by the Diocese include a series of Newsletters and other material relating to the College. The University is adjacent to Strawberry Hill House, Horace Walpole's eighteenth-century Gothic revival villa. Pope Benedict XVI visited the St Mary's in 2010 on his tour of the UK.
Royal connections
The fleur de lys carvings on the ceiling above the sanctuary bear witness to the support given to the parish by the French Royal Family who lived in the locality for several decades. The side altar dedicated to the apparition of the Sacred Heart to St Margaret Mary Alacoque also illustrate the church's association with France. Princess Marie-Amelie of Bourbon-Orleans was born in York House (now a civic building) in 1865. She married King Carlos of Portugal and gave birth to the future King Manuel II, who became an important benefactor of the parish after he settledat Fulwell Park in Twickenham following his exile from Portugal in 1910. He regularly attended Mass, and was active in local affairs. During the First World War he supported the Allied cause and the entry of Portugal into the war. He was engaged in various activities to alleviate the suffering caused by the war. He and his wife Queen Victoria Augusta were godparents to many children at their Confirmation at St James's. Two windows at the front of the church were donated by King Manuel. One is dedicated to St Anthony, Patron Saint of Lisbon, and bears the royal crest in the bottom left hand corner. The other is dedicated to St Edmund of Abingdon, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1233 to 1240. This window was installed in memory of parish priest Canon Edmund English, who died in 1924. King Manuel also opened the Parish Hall in Radnor Road in December 1927.
After King Manuel II's death in 1932, the parish was presented with various aretefacts that had belonged to him, including silver cruets, a ciborium embossed with the King's monogram and a baptismal shell. Queen Victoria Augusta also gave the parish the organ which the King had played in his house. The organ became unusable in the 1980s and had to be partially taken part. However, the main pipes and the upper woodwork bearing the Portuguese royal arms can still be seen in the old choir loft. In 2009, the Portuguese connection was renewed when a memorial to King Manuel II and Queen Augusta Victoria was installed on the right-hand side of the Sanctuary. It was unveiled by Councillor Celia Hodges, the Mayor of Richmond upon Thames, and dedicated by George Stack, then Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster. HRH Dom Miguel of Portugal, a relative of the late King, and the then Portuguese Ambassador Antonio Santana Carlos laid a wreath in memory of the Portuguese dead of the First World War.
The changing environment of the area led to a need to expand the church and a parish centre was built behind the church, which added a side chapel dedicated to St Joseph. The new centre was named the Emmanuel Centre in deference to King Manuel and to Sister Emmanuel O'Donoghue who worked for many years in local education and parish life. These buildings were completed in 2013. |